I started to have nightmares about the event, waking up in the middle of the night wondering if I have done enough. I thought back on the last couple of months to recap where I have been and to double check with myself on what I've been doing.
August was the finale of the Sprint racing season and Catherine and I battled it out at Gloucester. At the race, I came out of the water first but she caught me faster than I thought she would and we left the transition together. Our first few biking miles we were neck and neck but after the course turnaround she took me by more than 2 minutes off the bike. My goal was to keep an even pace and go a little faster than her on the run. I could see the gap between us closing on the second and third laps, but the final turn came sooner than I expected. As we rounded the bend we both laid it out flat to the line. The gap was too much once we both started sprinting and she beat me by 4 seconds. Kelsey Abbott took first, Cath took second, and I took third in our age group.
If you look closely, you can see me in my signature magenta tri suit to the right of Cath battling it out to close the gap:
Motivated to compete again with Kelsey and Cath I decided to sign up for Pumpkinman at the last minute. The water temperature was perfect but I could tell that I had been swimming at the BSC on my own more than I had been with Cambridge Masters. I held a nice pace for the bike and I took it easy for the run, finishing 50 minutes faster than my first 70.3 at 6:04 hrs. The most notable part of the event was that when I finished I had no lactic acid burn and my legs felt fine. My quads were sore for a couple of days, but I was happy about how I felt.
The next weekend I rode with the Rippers up in NH across our finest notches including Kinsman, Kangamangus, Bear, Crawford, and Franconia Notch. The ride was 100 miles, 8000 feet of vertical, and a can of whoop ass. I bonked at 80 miles on Crawford Notch but I finished the ride with everyone else and read 100 miles on my odometer. The next few weekends were followed by long rides up to Harvard of 70 and 80 miles on Saturday and long runs on Sunday. On Oct 9th I rode for 83 miles and ran a PR 1/2 marathon the next day, dropping my 13.1 time by 11 minutes to 1:56. Those back to back long weekends fried my legs and it took a good week to recover. But, I didn't have the time. The next Saturday I ran 15 miles (1:20 run, 1:15 ride, 1:20 run) and rode 45 miles the next day. By this point, I bonked mentally and emotionally. With my biggest scheduled weekend to come and only 5 weeks out from the event, I was mentally and emotionally overwhelmed, exhausted, and done.
I went on an apple pie bender and made at least 12 pies in the course of a couple of weeks. Look closely to see the bike:
I realized that in 9 months I hadn't rested for one day. The days that I have taken off of have been during the work week, which means I'm still working, and the weekend days have been my longest workouts. Needless to say, I had my own little melt down and took a few days off of work to rest. During this time, I really rested. I slept, I baked, and I walked Zion. I completely let down and let myself relax without anxiety or worry that I wasn't working out. That weekend I struggled but I did ride 5:25 hrs on Saturday and ran for 2:20 hrs on Sunday. That night marked the beginning of my taper. I was elated and my mindset started to look up. This past weekend felt like a breeze with only 3:30 hrs on the bike followed by a 45 min run on Saturday, with Sunday off.
As I look back, there is certainly more that I could have done, but I am happy with the long weekends that I've had and my overall consistency. I'm officially 21 days until the race and every day I'm getting more and more excited. I can't wait!
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